The Tale of Two Cinderellas
Everyone knows the story of Cinderella. It is the tale of a girl who was the beloved daughter of a wealthy man who passed away. Cinderella is left alone to live with her evil stepmother and two stepsisters who treat her very poorly. On the day of the royal ball, a fairy makes Cinderella's dream come true with her magic and she goes to the ball where she meets the prince. Cinderella and the Prince fall in love, however Cinderella runs away when the clock strikes midnight and he is only left with a glass slipper to find her, and when he does, they get married and live happily ever after. But more than anything, Cinderella is the tale of a girl who escapes a nightmare situation to see all her dreams come true. Because the story is so popular, many writers have taken it and remade it into whole new stories with different settings and plots. This story is one of them. This story is not about one Cinderella, but two Cinderellas. Like the Cinderella in the original tale, these two girls go through a few hardships, but they have their dreams come true in the end. The story is now going to be told, so make yourself comfortable and read on. Our story begins in a faraway land...Well, not actually a faraway land. It might have been somewhere in a small village or a big, fancy town, or something like that. But I believe it might have been somewhere in between. There was a kingdom ruled by a widowed, but very wealthy king. His name was Alistair Lockwood, and he had two beautiful daughters. Their names were Annabelle and Elizabeth. Annabelle (or "Anna", for short) had red hair and wore green. Elizabeth (or "Lizzie", for short) had brown hair and wore purple. The girls led a happy life with their father, until he remarried. The woman he married was called Susannah, and she was a crazy old queen with a horribly annoying daughter named Clarice. It was obvious that Queen Susannah and Clarice were after King Alistair's fortune. Everything came to a halt when the king died in a suspicious accident involving a safe, but it was even more suspicious since that was how Queen Susannah's last three husbands died. Having nowhere to go, the girls were used by the queen as slaves, while she and Clarice lounged around in luxury. One morning, Queen Susannah and Clarice made Anna and Lizzie wake up very early, as usual. "Hey, you two bozos! Wake up!" shouted Clarice. "It's six o'clock," said Queen Susannah. "You've got a lot of work to do. The Royal Dance is on Saturday, so the two of you have to finish our dresses." Anna and Lizzie weren't used to getting up so early in the morning just to do chores for their stepmother and stepsister. It made Anna especially grouchy, and she was on no mood to hear her stepmother's demands. "Can't you hire a dressmaker with all our father's money, cheapskate?" she retorted. But Queen Susannah didn't want to hear it. "Talk to me like that again, and I'll banish you from the kingdom!" she scolded. "Now get to work!" As the queen and Clarice left the attic, Lizzie could see that her sister was not happy with the way their stepmother and stepsister were treating them. But unlike Anna, who was a bit of a hot-head, Lizzie was more reasonable and straightforward. As the girls got ready to work, Lizzie gave her sister a heart-to-heart talk. "Anna, I think you should control your anger, especially on our stepmother and stepsister," she said. "We have nowhere else to go, and we have to stay here until we can figure out a way to regain our regal status. In the meantime, start sewing." But Anna was very clever, and she had quite a few tricks up her sleeve. "I have been sewing, Lizzie," she said. "Trust me." She went over to a cardboard box on top of her dresser and pulled out a fancy green dress that she had sewn in her own time. Lizzie took one look at the dress and was a little taken aback. "What in the world is that?" asked Lizzie. "It's the dress that I'm going to wear to the dance," replied Anna. "I decided that we should go and crash the party." "But how?" asked Lizzie. "Stepmother will never let us go." "Well, that dance will be crowded, because I heard that lots of guests are going to be there," said Anna. "Our stepmother will never see us in such a big crowd. Neither will Clarice. Besides, I'm not going to miss the biggest event of the century." Lizzie thought about it for a minute, before she finally said, "You're right, Anna! I'm not going to miss it, either! I'll make a dress for myself, too." With that, Lizzie got to work on the sewing machine, and Anna helped her. After they were done, the sisters took a step back to admire their work. The dresses were very beautiful, and they hoped that their stepmother wouldn't mind it if they could come with her and Clarice to the dance. A few days later, Queen Susannah was looking through the party's guest list on her computer. "How wonderful!" she exclaimed. "Prince Levi Gainsborough is attending the dance, and so is his brother, Jacob. They're both looking for a girl to be their bride. From what I've heard, their kingdom is twice the size of this one." With this knowledge, she turned her attention to her daughter, whom she knew was a perfect young woman for one of the princes to marry. "Clarice, I want you to sweep one of the princes off his feet and marry him." "Do I have to?" asked Clarice. "Yes!" replied the queen. "Then I can move in with you to a much bigger castle. Then I'll turn this castle into condos and rent them out!" "But what about Annabelle and Elizabeth?“ asked Clarice. "Well, we'll keep them around," said the queen. "We'll need a maintenance crew, after all!" The two of them laughed wickedly, and then went upstairs to the attic to check on how their dresses were coming along. Meanwhile, Anna and Lizzie were already finishing up their dresses, when they heard Clarice slam open the door. Lizzie quickly hid the dresses just as Clarice and Queen Susannah walked into the room. "What's taking you so long with our dresses, losers?" asked Clarice. "Um, your dresses are already finished," said Anna a little nervously. "Would you like to see?" Anna brought out the dresses and showed them to Queen Susannah, hoping that they would like them. "How are they?" she asked. "Do you like them?" "Well," sighed Queen Susannah. "I suppose they'll do. The dance is tomorrow, after all." Just then, Clarice saw something poking out of the clothing trunk. "What's this?" she asked. "Oh, it's nothing," said Anna nervously. But Clarice ignored her. She went to the trunk and opened the lid, only to find two more dresses inside. "Two more dresses?!" she cried. "I think I know what's going on here, Mother. Annabelle and Elizabeth are planning on attending the dance with us!" "Is this true?" asked Queen Susannah. Anna was angered by her stepmother's suspiciousness and her stepsister's nosiness. She didn't care if they were going to punish her and her sister for planning on crashing the upcoming party that they weren't invited to. "Maybe it is true, crackpot!" she snapped at the queen. "What are you going to do about it? Huh?!" But the queen said nothing. Instead, she and Clarice took Anna and Lizzie's dresses and tore them apart. After they were ripped to shreds, Queen Susannah looked at the damage she and her daughter caused and chuckled. "Well, that takes care of that," she said. "Now we will lock you two in your room until the dance is over." That's exactly what she did. Clarice laughed menacingly as Queen Susannah locked the door of the attic. This made Anna even more angry, and she banged on the door for the queen to let her and Lizzie out. "Open this door, you sad excuse for a queen!" she yelled. But the queen didn't answer. She simply turned her back and went downstairs, with Clarice following her. Anna and Lizzie could hear them laughing wickedly as they went downstairs and left for the dance. It was no use. The two girls were stuck in the attic and their dresses were ruined. Anna was furious that her stepmother and stepsister would do something like that, and Lizzie was disappointed in her sister for yelling at the queen. "Now you've done it, Anna," sighed Lizzie. "You went and ticked her off. Now look at us!" "Hey, don't blame me," said Anna, who was now a bit calmer. "Besides, she wouldn't let us go anyway." "I suppose you're right," said Lizzie. "Oh, the sadness of it all. How are we ever going to get to the dance now?" "If only someone could help us..." sighed Anna. Suddenly, a strange woman with curly black hair and wearing a sparkly blue dress appeared out of nowhere, right in front of the girls. The woman was holding a magic wand. "Hello," said the woman. "You called?" Anna and Lizzie were surprised to see this woman. "Who are you?" asked Anna. "I'm Melanie, your fairy godmother," said the woman. "I'm here to help you." "Gee," said Anna sarcastically. "Too bad you weren't around before that safe took care of Dad." "Oh," said Melanie. "I'm very sorry. But I'm going to help you right now. So, what do you need help with?" "We want to go to the royal dance," said Lizzie. "But our stepmother ripped our dresses apart and locked us in our room." "Maybe I can fix that," said Melanie. "I'll help you girls go to the dance in no time! Let's start by fixing your dresses." Melanie waved her wand and pointed it at the dresses. In the blink of an eye, both the dresses were repaired. The girls were impressed at how well Melanie was with magic. With another wave of her wand, Melanie put the dresses on the girls. "Wow!" said Lizzie, admiring herself in the mirror. "We look amazing!" "Can you please unlock the door for us?" asked Anna. "Certainly," said Melanie. With another wave of her wand, the door immediately unlocked and opened. "Is there anything else I can do for you?" asked Melanie. "Well," said Anna. "We could use a ride." "Okay," said Melanie. "I'll send a driver and a coach for you." She took out her phone to contact a driver to send a coach over, but many of them were booked for the night. "Oh dear, it looks like all my drivers are busy," she said. "It looks like you'll have to drive yourselves." She waved her wand a final time, and two eco-friendly smart cars appeared outside. "I guess that will do," said Lizzie as she and Anna went outside. "Let's go, Lizzie!" said Anna. "Let's crash that dance!" But as they were about to step into their cars, Melanie followed them outside to give them a warning. "Before you go, there's only one catch," she said. "You must leave the dance before midnight, because at midnight, everything changes back." "Well, that's inconvenient," said Lizzie. "It's the best I can do," said Melanie. "Take it or leave it!" The girls didn't have much of a choice. After all, they wanted to go to the dance, so they decided to accept their fairy godmother's offer. "We'll take it!" said Anna. "Wonderful!" said Melanie. "Have fun at the dance, girls!" And with that, she disappeared. Anna and Lizzie got into their cars and drove to the dance. When they got there, they couldn't believe how big and beautiful the palace was. They went inside to look for Prince Levi and his brother, but they saw two familiar faces along the way. "Look out!" whispered Lizzie. "There's Stepmother and Clarice! I hope they don't notice us." "They probably won't," said Anna. "I bet they might not even recognize us." The girls quietly snuck past their stepmother and stepsister. Luckily, Queen Susannah and Clarice were too busy dancing away to notice the girls. Eventually, Anna and Lizzie found Prince Levi and Prince Jacob in the midst of the huge crowd. "Look!" said Lizzie. "There's Prince Levi and his brother!" "Ooh!" said Anna. "They're cute!" As far as the girls could tell, the princes were dancing with almost everyone. They hoped that they would get a shot. A few minutes later, after the princes were done dancing with some of the guests, the girls knew that now was their chance. They slowly walked over to the princes to ask them to dance. The princes saw how beautiful the girls were, and thought that they should dance with them next. "Aren't you girls lovely?" asked Prince Levi. "Both of you are quite a knockout!" said Prince Jacob. "Will you two princes dance with us?" asked Lizzie. "We certainly will," said Prince Levi. "Both of you are very lovely." And so, the girls chose which prince they wanted to dance with. Anna danced with Levi, and Lizzie danced with Jacob. As this was happening, Clarice could see that her slave-sisters were at the dance, and they were dancing with the princes instead of her. Queen Susannah could see this occurring, too. "Look, Mother!" said Clarice. "Annabelle and Elizabeth are here, and they're dancing with the princes!" "What?!" cried Queen Susannah. "How dare they defy me? They will pay for this dearly!" But the girls didn't notice. They were just too busy dancing with the princes. The princes couldn't believe how beautifully the girls could dance. They spent the rest of the night dancing together. Prince Levi was crazy about Anna, and Prince Jacob was head over heels for Lizzie. The princes decided that these girls were the perfect wives for them. The girls were having so much fun dancing with the princes, that they had lost track of time. Suddenly, they both noticed the clock. "Yikes!" cried Lizzie. "It's almost midnight! We have to get a move on!" "It was nice dancing with you," Anna told the princes. "But we have to go. See you!" The girls ran as fast as they could out of the dance hall. As they made their way out of the palace, their clothes changed back and their cars disappeared. "Darn it," said Lizzie. "Looks like we're walking." The princes tried to chase after the girls, but they lost sight of them. "Where did they go?" asked Prince Jacob. "We didn't get their names." Just then, Prince Levi noticed something on one of the steps. Actually, he saw two things on one of the steps. He picked one of those two things up. "It looks like one of them dropped a heart-shaped diamond earring," he said. "You're right, Levi," said Jacob as he picked the other item up. "And the other must have dropped a pearl necklace." The princes noticed that both the earring and the necklace sparkled, making them very pretty. The princes decided that they would bring these items to the rightful owners. If the earring or the necklace sparkled on whoever put them on, the princes would find their wives. They knew they would have to go door-to-door through the kingdom. The next day, Queen Susannah got a message on her computer. The message read that Prince Levi and Prince Jacob were looking for the owner of a lost earring and necklace. She had to tell her daughter this wonderful news. "Did you hear, Clarice?" she said. "If the earring and the necklace sparkle, that means one of the princes will find his wife!" "Really?" said Clarice. "I have plenty of earrings and necklaces! I hope they sparkle on me!" "Well, I hope so, too," said the queen. "That earring or that necklace better sparkle on you or you'll join those two girls in the attic!" Meanwhile, the princes were looking for the owners of the earring and the necklace, but they didn't sparkle on any of the young women that tried them on. Soon, the princes arrived at Queen Susannah's palace. As they arrived, the queen told Clarice to get ready. As the princes brought the two items to Clarice, they asked her if they belonged to them. "Oh, of course!" said Clarice. "I have plenty of those. I bet those things you have are mine." As she put on the earring, it didn't sparkle. She tried the necklace on, but it didn't sparkle, either. "Well," huffed the queen. "Those pretty pieces of jewelry don't sparkle on anyone here. You must be on your way." Suddenly, they heard a voice call out, "Wait!" As they turned around, they saw Anna coming into the main hall. "What about us?" asked Anna. "We'll try those on!" "Oh my goodness!" cried Clarice. "Anna escaped from the attic!" "How?" asked the queen. "That's easy," said Anna. "Lizzie and I found a large ladder that would help us get out through the window." "Hold that earring and necklace!" said Anna as she waited for Lizzie to come down. "Lizzie is on her way!' As Lizzie climbed down the ladder, the princes followed the two girls outside, where they got ready to try on the jewelry. "May the best girl win!" Lizzie told Anna. "Gee, Lizzie," said Anna smugly. "You have a shot too, you know." "You know what I mean," said Lizzie. And so, as the two princes handed the pieces of jewelry to the girls, they took turns trying them on. Lizzie tried on the necklace, but it didn't sparkle on her. Anna put on the earring, but it didn't sparkle on her. "Hmmm," said Prince Levi. "This is puzzling. Will the earring and the necklace ever sparkle on those girls?" But it didn't take long for the two girls to figure out what belonged to who. They swapped the necklace and the earring with each other, and sure enough, as they put them on, the earring and he necklace sparkled. The necklace belonged to Anna, and the earring belonged to Lizzie. Queen Susannah and Clarice gasped in shock at the sight of it. "Look at how pretty they look," said Jacob. "It's them! The girls we danced with the other night!" "That's right!" said a voice behind them. As they turned around, everyone could see that Melanie had returned. "Melanie!" said Anna. "You're back!" "Of course I am," said Melanie. "Since Anna has her necklace and Lizzie has her earring, that means that they both win. They'll make fine queens." "I bet we will!" said Lizzie. "Melanie, do you think you can zap some pretty dresses for us?" asked Anna. "Sure!" said Melanie. She waved her wand, and the girls were back in their fancy dresses. The princes were surprised at the sight of this. "Jacob, I think we have found them!" said Levi. "Indeed we have, my dear brother!" said Jacob. "Sorry, Clarice," Anna told her stepsister. "You had your chance." "If we marry these handsome princes, maybe we'll make you the maid of our palace," said Lizzie. "And we're not letting you get away with it." As Queen Susannah stormed off and Clarice followed her back into the palace, Anna and Lizzie made plans for their wedding. Anna decided to marry Levi, while Lizzie chose to marry Jacob. So, in a grand double ceremony, they married the princes, and they have ruled the Gainsborough kingdom to this day. As for Clarice and Queen Susannah, they were punished for being so greedy, lazy, and rude. Melanie turned them both into frogs, and ever since then, the queen and her daughter have fought over the best lily pads in the pond. And that concludes the tale of two Cinderellas. Now that the story is done, take a moment to think to yourself about why retellings of popular fairy tales (or "fractured fairy tales", as some people call them) are always being made. Is it to appeal to modern audiences? To change the characters' fate? Or is it just to retell the story in a different setting? Whatever it is, retellings of famous stories will always keep getting made, and almost anyone who loves to read different fairy tales might enjoy these clever retellings. I hope you have enjoyed this retelling, too. If you haven't read any retellings of famous stories, you should do so. I recommend that you visit a library or book store near you and find some good retellings that you might like. Happy reading! Category:Stories Category:Short Stories